—

Although the cessation of the environment’s influence on his Rooted Mystic Tether provided some consolation, Kieran wasn’t entirely at ease.

Kieran had experienced a few situations where the removal of the environment’s impact signified a challenging transition.

“The feeling of contention from the pathway must mean something has changed to warrant this feeling. I initially thought it was the complexity Fabrication, but I now believe it’s more to it.”

Kieran inspected his surroundings for a clue regarding what he needed to do. Although he had unlocked his Mystic Gate, using his reserves of mystic energy was difficult… to say the least.

Though Kieran could feel his link to the Ancient Rune Oasis through his Mystic Gate, wielding the energy for anything other than his unlocked ocular abilities was next to impossible.

Fortunately, the path’s presence didn’t force Kieran out of the Masked Runic Garth immediately, so he had time to ponder why the Mystic Gate felt complete yet incomplete at the same time.

“Acaiyla, Hekaina, and Agatha mentioned mystic sequences several times, which means it is naturally part of Fabrication. However, sequences aren’t the only specialty Wykins—they are proficient in many arts.”

Wards, formations, and sequences encapsulated the spectrum of what a Wykin could wield. Every technique possessed unique advantages, which is why the Wykins employed different methods in certain situations.

Though the Wykins’ many methods harbored unique principles, they all sprouted from one origin, which also doubled as their existential source.

After combing through his mind, Kieran soon realized why his Mystic Gate exuded such a contradictory feeling.

Thinking back to the nascent Fragmented Mystic Spores that assimilated with his developing Mystic Gate, the symbol embedded in the spores was dismantled during the absorption process.

“Before I move forward, I think it’s advised that I attempt to reconstruct the various symbols I perceived inside the spores. I believe that’s the foundation of jumpstarting this upcoming process,” Kieran said.

Upon figuring out his path forward, Kieran focused on the Mystic Gate and endeavored to gather dismantled essence to form complete symbols. However, after combing the motes of energy, Kieran realized that the most he could do was return them to their initially incomplete state.

“Oh, crap…” Kieran grimaced, looking down the path.

It dawned upon Kieran that he had precisely zero knowledge of these symbols’ complete shape. The mystic sequences were too cluttered and overlapped for him to extract coherent assistance from his memories.

Of course, Kieran’s incapability wasn’t a sign of his lacking talent or ineptitude. All mystic sequences possessed contingencies to thwart reverse engineering of the race’s unique methods.

These countermeasures were also why the Wykins were startled when Kieran opened the Stone Mystikum Doorway with no trouble.

Soon enough, Kieran realized that if he wanted to learn how to complete these symbols, he would have to ultimately tread this path irrespective of his current progress.

“This must be a test of comprehension. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been supplied with incomplete symbols. If I’m not mistaken… it has become a race against time,” Kieran muttered.

After exhaling deeply, Kieran traversed the path despite his current feelings toward doing so. The trail steeped in mystery became even more enigmatic when phantoms of olden Wykins appeared with blank features.

All of sudden, one of the phantoms fabricated a mystic sequence that combined into a symbol and hurtled toward Kieran at a frightening speed. Kieran’s first instinct was to avoid the incoming mystic symbol, but to his dismay, Kieran found that his feet were planted against the path.

“No retreat?” Kieran blinked, glancing at his feet momentarily.

He wondered how a force could ground an incorporeal body, but Kieran didn’t have time to squander by questioning an Immaterial Plane that existed outside of natural law.

Instead, Kieran lifted his gaze and looked at the incoming symbol, realizing that it was the complete version of one of the incomplete symbols in his mind. As he tried to comprehend the structure, Kieran realized that the incoming symbol had slowed down.

The more he comprehended the structure, the slower it would become.

‘A direct manifestation of my understanding? But… although I understand parts of it, I don’t know its essence,’ Kieran thought.

Before he could finish comprehending the symbol, it arrived before him.

Bang!

Unlike all his other experiences inside the Ancient Rune Oasis, Kieran encountered pain from this collision, leaving him bewildered and agog to learn more.

“?!”

The pain extended deeper than Kieran envisioned, reaching as far as producing another notification.

〈System: Your «Rooted Mystic Tether» has suffered some damage. Stability: 99%〉

“That much pain was only the equivalent of losing 1% of my stability in this realm? Does that mean I can only take 99 more hits before I fail the trial?” Kieran muttered.

There was no additional information for Kieran to draw a sounder conclusion from, so he assumed the damage would remain consistent. Given the length of this path, if challenges like this appeared often, he wouldn’t make it to the end.

Though he had completed the structure of the first symbol, it lacked essence due to his broken focus after enduring the pain.

Once the phantom of this Wykin unleashed the symbol, it dissipated into an abnormal wind that combined with the upcoming phantom not too far away.

The dissipation of this phantom restored Kieran’s ability to move, which he immediately did.

A second later, the reinforced phantom unleashed the same symbol, except it was larger, moved faster, and exuded a somewhat dangerous presence, driving Kieran’s expression to grow solemn.

‘These things will continue to grow stronger?!’ Kieran inwardly exclaimed.

However, as a consequence of this change, Kieran could sense the essence of the symbol more clearly than in the previous performance. Once he overcame his shock, Kieran fell silent and focused.

The moment before the character impacted his body, Kieran received a notification.

〈System: You have comprehended the first character of the «Archaic Syllabary of Eni».〉

“I did it!” Kieran exclaimed, almost like a child who overcame a tremendous obstacle. Despite having comprehended the character, the incoming symbol did not stop.

Bang!

〈System: Your «Rooted Mystic Tether» has suffered some damage. Stability: 97%〉

Kieran groaned, and his expression deflated, becoming quite quizzical. “I didn’t…do it?’

After a moment of ruminating about his current situation, Kieran slapped his forehead. “This isn’t just a comprehension test. I must materialize my understanding, goddamn it!”

The same phenomenon as earlier occurred, the phantom’s essence flowing into the subsequent Wykin apparition.

Kieran moved to the next hurdle and prepared to unleash his first fabrication. ‘Uh… okay, I can do this.’

When the apparition created its symbol, Kieran analyzed how it worked and tried to replicate it. This resulted in odd sparks flickering before his eyes and hands, but the speed of this reaction was slow, and he couldn’t contend against how fast the Wykin conjured its symbol.

Luckily, this gave Kieran deeper insight into the meaning of this trial stage. ‘This confirms it. This stage wants me to overcome the phantom’s fabrication.’

Kieran suffered more damage this time but didn’t let it disorient him and dismantle his progress.

〈System: Your «Rooted Mystic Tether» has suffered some damage. Stability: 94%〉

The next challenge resulted in the same outcome, Kieran suffering a defeat, but this time, Kieran gathered more information. Before the phantom Wykin released its sequencing, Kieran perceived a burst of mystic energy.

〈System: Your «Rooted Mystic Tether» has suffered some damage. Stability: 90%〉

This led Kieran to prepare his Mystic Gate by drawing in additional energy.

Once the challenge began, Kieran expelled the energy in his Mystic Gate and created his first primitive sequence composed of innumerable repetitions of one character.

Bang!

The symbols collided, and Kieran received a message.

〈System: The Fabrication of the «First Syllable of Eni» is passable. Fabrication: 3.85%〉

Kieran clenched his fist in triumph and raised it high. “I did it! This entire trial has been illuminating, shedding light upon tactics that delve beyond what humans can accomplish. Not even Enchanters delve this deep into understanding.”

Despite gravitating toward physical battles, Kieran couldn’t downplay how gripping the power of the Wykins was. Words or rather characters transcribed into power!

Although Kieran felt accomplished, his Trial Completion made him feel otherwise.

After an adequate fabrication of the first syllable, the percentage rose to 58. Based on this rate, Kieran only needed to comprehend up to the fifth syllable to unlock the location of the Veiled Arcadia Gate.

However, Kieran didn’t seek adequate or passable.

Nevertheless, Kieran’s attention was drawn away from this matter when he realized that the phantom assimilated with his body rather than the next apparition with noticeably different attire.

This assimilation resulted in Kieran feeling a deeper connection to his first sequence.

Meanwhile, when Kieran stepped before the new apparition, he realized the symbol it cast was much different.

Part of Kieran felt disgruntled by this since it seemed like chasing perfection wasn’t possible. Once his conjuration of the syllable reached an acceptable degree, it seemed like the trial would immediately switch to the subsequent character.

Since he was familiar with how he should comprehend the syllable, the time he spent understanding the second syllable was much shorter. Still, it wasn’t faster than the apparition Wykin’s conjuration speed.

Bang!

〈System: Your «Rooted Mystic Tether» has suffered some damage. Stability: 89%〉

When Kieran received the damage to his tether, it sparked a flash of realization.

“The amount of damage I suffer equals how many times the apparition is fortified. It truly is a race against time and a test of understanding all at once,” Kieran stated.